Get started with Keynote Live

Use Keynote to play your presentation over the Internet so everyone can view it at the same time—on their own devices, wherever they are.

Before you start

To play your presentation online with Keynote Live, you must update to the most recent version of Keynote for iOS or Mac, or use Keynote on iCloud.com. You must also sign in to iCloud on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac, and store your presentation in iCloud Drive.

You can invite up 100 viewers anywhere or up to 35 on your local Wi-Fi network. To watch, viewers need a web browser or the latest version of the Keynote app for an iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac. They don’t need iCloud accounts to watch presentations.

Start a presentation on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch

Tap Use Keynote Live, then tap Continue. A Keynote Live link is created for your presentation.

Tap Invite Viewers. Select the service you want to send your invite through and add your viewers. Tap Send or Post. You can also copy the link to the presentation and paste the link anywhere.

If you want viewers to enter a password to see your presentation, tap More Options. Tap Add Password, then enter your password and tap Done. Make sure to send this password to the viewers you invite.

If your viewers are ready to watch, tap Play Now. If you want to start the presentation another time, tap Play Later. If you tap Play Later, you can continue to invite more viewers, and add or change the Keynote Live password. When you’re ready to present, tap in the toolbar, then tap Play on Keynote Live.

When you use Keynote Live to play a presentation on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, you can't use the highlighting feature to draw on slides.

Start a presentation on your Mac

Click in the toolbar.

Click Continue. A Keynote Live link is created for your presentation.

Click Invite Viewers. Select the service you want to send your invite through and add your viewers. Click Send or Post. You can also copy the link to the presentation and paste it anywhere.

If you want viewers to enter a password to see your presentation, click More Options. Select "Require password," then type your password and click Set Password. Make sure to send this password to the viewers you invite.

If your viewers are ready to watch, click Play Now. If you want to start the presentation another time, click Play Later. If you click Play Later, you can continue to invite more viewers, and add or change the Keynote Live password. When you’re ready to present, click in the toolbar, then click Play on Keynote Live.

Start a presentation on Keynote for iCloud

With your presentation open, click in the toolbar, then choose Use Keynote Live. Click Continue. A link to your presentation is created on iCloud.com. To access this link at any time, click , then click Keynote Live Settings.

If you want viewers to need a password to see your presentation, click More Options. Click Add Password, then type your password then click Set Password.

Click Invite Viewers. Type the email addresses of the people you want to invite, then click Send. You can also copy the link to the presentation and paste it anywhere.

If your viewers are ready to watch, click Play Now. If you want to start the presentation another time, click Play Later. If you click Play Later, you can continue to invite more viewers, and add or change the Keynote Live password. When you’re ready to present, click in the toolbar, then click Play on Keynote Live.

About presentation playback

If you previously shared this presentation and allowed others to edit it, they can continue to make edits while you present. Those viewing your presentation won’t see the new changes unless you restart the presentation. Only you can use Keynote Live to show a presentation that you own, even if you share it with participants.

When you use Keynote Live to play a presentation, the slides are exported to iCloud as temporary files. To make sure your playback is smooth, all of the files stream to the viewers' devices as soon as you start your presentation. Only viewers with the Keynote Live link (and password, if you've set one) can access the files.

Use Keynote Remote with Keynote Live

If you want to use Keynote Remote to control your Keynote Live presentation, make sure you start the presentation with Keynote Live first. After you're playing the presentation, you can join with the remote and control it.

If you start the show from the remote, you can only use local playback.

Keynote Remote only controls Keynote Live when the presentation is started from Keynote for Mac and Keynote for iOS.

Turn off Keynote Live

If you don't want others to have access to the presentation, turn off Keynote Live:

On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, with the presentation open, tap , then tap Keynote Live Settings. Tap Turn Off Keynote Live.

On your Mac, with your presentation open, click in the toolbar. Click Turn Off Keynote Live.

On Keynote for iCloud, click , then choose Keynote Live Settings. Click Turn Off Keynote Live.

The link to the presentation stops working when you turn off Keynote Live. If you decide to turn on Keynote Live again for this presentation, the original link still works.